Weather and Climate

What do you think the weather is?The weather is a phenomena that occurs in the atmosphere... But what is the atmosphere? The atmosphere is the layer of air that surrounds the Earth.

The atmosphere has got many layers. The two main layers are the troposphere and the stratosphere.

Troposphere: is the lowest layer of the atmosphere. It contains the air we breathe. Stratosphere: it contains very little oxygen. It contains the ozone layer that protect us from harmful rays of sun.

Weather VS ClimateWeather occurs in the troposphere, where we can find clouds, rain, wind and

lightning.

WEATHER CLIMATEIs the state of the atmosphere at a particular time and place. To define the weather we need to know the temperature, the precipitation and the wind.

Example: Today in Madrid the weather is cloudy.

Is the weather of a place over a long period of time.

Example: The climate of Madrid is Continental.

But… is the same weather than climate?

World climate zonesWe divide the world into climate zones, depending on the amount of heat each zone

receives from the Sun. There are different climate zones:• One hot zone• Two temperate zones• Two cold zones

HOT ZONE TEMPERATE ZONE

TEMPERATE ZONE

COLD ZONE

COLD ZONE

CLIMATES IN HOT ZONES• HOT CLIMATES

RAINFORESTThese places have high temperatures all year and it rains a lot.

Animals: Parrots.

SAVANNAHFurther away from Equator it rains less so there is less vegetation.

Animals: Antelope

DESERTVery little rain so there is little vegetation.

Animals: Scorpion

CLIMATES IN TEMPERATE ZONES• TEMPERATE CLIMATES: Between hot zones and cold zones.

These climates vary: in some places it rains a lot, in others it rains only a little.

FOREST GRASSLANDS

Animals: squirrel Animals: Zebra

CLIMATES IN COLD ZONES• COLD CLIMATES: Near the North and the South Poles.

It is cold all year. It rains very little, it is mainly snow.

TUNDRA HIGH MOUNTAIN AREAS

Animals: polar bear Animals: Moose

CLIMATE IN SPAIN• Most of Spain is in temperate zone, but the Canary islands are in

the hot zone.

•There are also variations in climate between the different regions. •There are five types of climate in Spain: oceanic, mountain, mediterranean, mediterranean-continental and subtropical.

CLIMATE IN SPAINOCEANIC

LocationNorth of the Iberian P.

TemperaturesMild all year.

PrecipitationLot of rainfall all year. A lot of vegetation. Green landscapes.

LocationAreas over 1500 metres high.

TemperaturesCold in winter, warm in summer.

PrecipitationLots of rainfall all year. In winter there is snow.

MOUNTAINLocationEast and South of the Iberian P. Balearic islands, medit. coast, Ceuta and Melilla.

TemperaturesMild all year.

PrecipitationLittle rainfall in summer. More rainfall in the forest.

MEDITERRANEAN

LocationInterior of the Iberian P.

TemperaturesHot in summer, cold in winter.

PrecipitationLittle rainfall in summer. More rainfall in the forest.

MEDITERRANEAN-CONTINENTAL Location

Canary Islands.

TemperaturesMild all year.

PrecipitationVery little rainfall, little vegetation.

SUBTROPICAL

OCEANIC MOUNTAIN MEDITERRANEAN MEDITERRANEAN-CONTINENTAL

SUBTROPICAL

CLIMATE IN SPAIN